Not So Perfect
by Exploding BonBon
Summary: Rikki Chadwick has a perfect life. Until, one day, everything changes. Will she, Emma, and Cleo be able to cope with this terrible misfortune, or does this spell the end for them? Songfic. CHANGED PENNAME, used to be bonstar567.
1. Innocence

Hi everyone, _Not So Perfect_ is going to be a songfic. It's not going to be a long story, I'm afraid. Definitely not more than 5 or 6 chapters. Each chapter is going to be from a different character's point of view (except for this - the first chapter, and the last) and each chapter will have a different song. Anyway, on with the actual story before you get tired of me and my writing.

Chapter 1 - Innocence

_Waking up I see that everything is okay  
The first time in my life and now it's so great  
Slowing down, I look around and I am so amazed  
I think about the little things that make life great  
I wouldn't change a thing about it  
This is the best feeling_

_This innocence is brilliant  
I hope that it will stay  
This moment is perfect  
Please don't go away  
I need you now  
And I'll hold on to it  
Don't you let it pass you by_

Rikki Chadwick loved her life. She had two great best friends, an amazing boyfriend who she loved, and a father who cared for her.

Not to mention she was a mermaid.

_I found a place so safe, not a single tear  
The first time in my life and now it's so clear  
Feel calm, I belong, I'm so happy here  
It's so strong and now I let myself be sincere  
I wouldn't change a thing about it  
This is the best feeling_

_This innocence is brilliant  
I hope that it will stay  
This moment is perfect  
Please don't go away  
I need you now  
And I'll hold on to it  
Don't you let it pass you by_

Rikki loved the wonderful feeling of being in the water with Emma and Cleo, playing with the dolphins and racing each other to the moon pool on Mako Island. Rikki also enjoyed the powers being a mermaid gave her: being able to heat water, create fire and summon lightning at just the clenching of her fist.

_It's a state of bliss, you think you're dreaming  
It's the happiness inside that you're feeling  
It's so beautiful it makes you wanna cry_

_It's a state of bliss, you think you're dreaming  
It's the happiness inside that you're feeling  
It's so beautiful it makes you wanna cry_

_It's so beautiful it makes you wanna cry_

All this was more than she had ever hoped for. Beyond one's imagination even. All in all, Rikki's life was perfect.

_This innocence is brilliant, it makes you want to cry  
This innocence is brilliance, please don't go away  
Cause I need you now  
And I'll hold on to it, don't you let it pass you by._

Little did she know, the fine thread her life was hanging on was about to fray through.

**Sorry this chapter hardly has any story in it, I promise the next chapter will be longer! Hope everyone keeps on reading!**


	2. Falling Out

Chapter 2 - Falling Out

_Rikki's POV_

The view out the window is beautiful but I don't want to look at it anymore. Sunlight is reflecting off the ocean making it shimmer and sparkle. I know I've only been in the car five or ten minutes, staring out to the sea, but all the dancing waves do is try to lure me towards them, to dance beneath the waves in my mermaid form. But I'm on my way to school at the moment. I'm not a geek or a nerd, but school's not half bad these days. Since Emma's been my friend I've actually been getting decent grades.

"Hey Dad, the turnoff's just up here," I say, motioning to the street that leads to school, a few metres up the road we're on at the moment. My dad doesn't normally drive me to school - as a rule I walk. Until recently he didn't even own a car. But he got promoted at work. Dad's been pretty happy about that. Anyway, after his promotion, he decided we could afford a little car. I woke up late this morning - last night the six of us: me, Emma, Cleo, Zane, Ash and Lewis went out to a movie and dinner - so Dad offered me a ride to school. I've only been in the car once or twice before so I'm finding it pretty cool, even though cars really aren't my thing.

_I feel a little bit out of place and I've never been like this before,  
I watch back with no disgrace and I wonder why I fell through this door,  
I really need some time to figure out just who I am and what I'm here for,  
I don't know anywhere left to go but I know one thing's for sure_

_I'm falling out of the blue skies, I'm headed straight down right to the ground,  
I'm going out of the good times, and I don't wanna feel like this anymore_

_I'm falling out of the blue skies, I'm headed straight down right to the ground,  
I'm coming out of the good times, and I don't think I can take this anymore_

_I never thought that it would ever change and that life would always be the same,  
Now it's taking this crazy journey_

_Is it me who needs to take the blame?_

_It ain't easy to think when you wake from your dreams  
and you're thrown back in reality  
all the twists and the turns that'll make you learn just who you wanna be_

_  
_Just as I finish telling him about where to turn off, Dad's cell phone starts going off. "Grab that for me would you?" he asks. I reach over and grab it. "Hello?" I say. It's one of his work colleagues, so I hold the phone out to Dad. He picks up his cell with one hand. "Hi there Jon," he says, turning the steering wheel one-handedly. We swerve into the street just missing the kerb. I guess my dad need an extra driving lesson. "Whoa, slow down there," I say loudly to him.

Dad turns his head to me. Out of the corner of my eye I see a flash of bright blue. "Look," I say to Dad. "Isn't that a car?"

"Of course it's a car Rikki, it's driving along the road," he says sounding a tad annoyed.

"Be careful, you nearly hit the kerb again!" I warn Dad. Maybe he'll need_ two_ more driving lessons. "Look, I'm trying to concentrate," he states. "No, I didn't say that to you,' he tells Jon or whoever it is on the phone.

Meanwhile I'm looking at the blue thing in the distance. As it comes closer I realise it is a car.

I lean forwards in my seat, trying to get a look at the driver. Squinting, I can make out a young man, maybe around twenty. Okay, nothing weird about the car or the driver, I know. But what _is_ weird is that the car seems to be on the same side of the road as us. Heading _towards_ us.

_I'm falling out of the blue skies, I'm headed straight down right to the ground,  
I'm going out of the good times, and I don't wanna feel like this anymore_

_I'm falling out of the blue skies, I'm headed straight down right to the ground,  
I'm coming out of the good times, and I don't think I can take this anymore_

_I'm waiting, I'm watching, I'm trying to float back up high, oh, oh, oh  
I'm wishing, I'm wanting to float back up to the sky_

"Dad, LOOK OUT!" I scream. Then he sees it too. "Sorry, Jon, gotta go," he says hurriedly into the phone and drops it at his side. That's when I realise the worst thing of all. The guy – he must be drunk or something (who's drunk at 8:30 in the morning?) – is speeding. Like, _speeding_ speeding. And there's no way we're going to be able to get out of the way in time. Dad takes the wheel back up with both hands and twists it all the way it can go. Our car swerves to the right, worse than last time, but the driver who seems he must have a death wish (I'll call him D.W. from now on) veers to his left.

Straight into our car.

_I'm headed straight down, right to the ground_

_Headed straight down, right to the ground_

_Headed straight down, right to the ground _

_I'm headed straight down, right to the ground_

_Headed straight down, right to the ground_

_Headed straight down, right to the ground_

_I'm falling out of the blue skies, I'm headed straight down right to the ground,  
I'm going' out of the good times, and I don't wanna feel like this anymore_

_I'm falling out of the blue skies, I'm headed straight down right to the ground,  
I'm coming out of the good times, and I don't think I can take this anymore_

I duck down instinctively and cover my head with my arms. I hear glass shattering in front of me. It all seems to be happening in slow motion. Then, everything stops. Cautiously I stick my head up. D.W. is slumped over the wheel motionless and the front end of his car is embedded in ours. Dad is sitting next to me, looking shaken. Then D.W. jerks and his foot must be on the accelerator or something, because his car shoots forward another metre or two.

Straight into me.

_Out of the blue skies_

_out of the good times_

The last thing I can remember is a falling sensation. Like a huge pit has opened up under me and I'm tumbling down uncontrollably.

_Out of the blue sky_

_out of the good time._


	3. The Rain

Chapter 3: The Rain

_I will try to break_

_Every habit that holds me_

_I will try to make everyone happy again_

_I will try to take anything you can throw at me_

_I will let the rain come in_

_I will try to face everything that scares me_

_I will try to trace everywhere that I've been_

_I will try to wait for all of the hearts to be mended_

_I will let the rain come in_

_And if I try too hard_

_Or maybe not hard enough_

_I'll be the one who says_

_It's all gonna be OK_

_And if it all falls down, well it's never gonna really matter_

_Because the rain washes everything away_

* * *

_Lewis' POV_

"So, as the parenchyma cell grows..."

I let my voice trail off, distracted by the sound of a door opening. I glance up to see the school secretary, Miss Griffith, rush in. "Excuse me," she says to the biology teacher. "May I borrow Cleo Sertori?" she asks looking at a sheet of paper she is holding.

"Sure," the teacher replies, while Cleo starts next to me. Around us the class starts up their 'Ooh, she's in trouble' sound, led by Nate and his cronies.

"Why does she want you?" I whisper to Cleo.

"No idea," Cleo quickly whispers back.

"Cleo, have you finished your work?"

"Almost, miss," Cleo replies to the teacher.

"Could you finish it for homework, please?"

Cleo nods and starts packing up her books.

"Oh," Miss Griffith says. "Could I also please have Lewis McCartney?"

"You've finished, haven't you Lewis?"

"Yes, I was just helping Cleo."

"Seems like you're good to go then," the teacher smiles.

We follow Miss Griffith out the door. "What's going on?" I ask the secretary.

"I'll tell you in a minute. There is just another student I have to fetch first," she explains in an unusually solemn-sounding voice.

After we walk along the corridor and down a flight of stairs, Miss Griffith stops in front of one of the English classrooms. "Wait right here," she directs me and Cleo. Really, a pointless thing to say. It's not as if we're going to run away. Into the classroom she goes.

"She's acting rather serious today," I note. "I wonder why."

"You don't think someone found out about-"

"-your secret?" No way. It's probably something trivial." Little do I know how untrivial it is.

The door swings open and Emma walks out. She is looking completely bewildered. I don't think she's ever been called out of class. She spots Cleo and I and makes a beeline for us. "We haven't got detentions for something, have we?" she asks, sounding as confused as she looks.

"I don't think so," I say, while Cleo says "I hope not."

Miss Griffith comes over. I look at her expression trying to read her emotions but her face is a mask. Not even a hint of her previous solemnity remains. Or is there something showing there? I don't know. Cleo's more of the empathetic type.

Miss Griffith starts to speak. "Your friend…Rikki Chadwick," she says, looking down at her sheet again, "is…"

._...a mermaid,_ I finish the sentence for her in my mind. No, she wouldn't tell us that even if she knew. _Sick. Dead. Um, late…_

"…in a coma," the secretary says in a rush, like she's trying to get a bad taste out of her mouth. We all stop, drop what we are doing - Cleo, playing with her plaited hair; Emma, adjusting her shirt collar; and me, trying to finish off her sentence for her. We stare at Miss Griffith. Emma looks like she doesn't believe her. Cleo looks like she doesn't want to believe her. Me? I don't know what to believe.

_Rikki. Coma._

The words sound bad even in my mind.

_Coma. Rikki._

* * *

_I will try to breathe_

_Deeper than all of the oceans_

_I will try to see_

_The battle instead of the win_

_I will try to leave_

_All that I've wasted behind me_

_I will let the rain come in_

* * *

"She was in a car crash this morning, involving a drunk driver. She sustained severe injuries to her head and is now in the local hospital."

Emma is shaking her head. "No. It's not possible. Surely there's some kind of mistake?" Emma says to Miss Griffith, disbelief etched in her face.

"No. No mistake," Miss Griffith replies gently.

It's starting to rain outside. Not good.

* * *

_And if I try too hard_

_Or maybe not hard enough_

_I'll be the one who says_

_It's all gonna be OK_

_And if it all falls down, well it's never gonna really matter_

_Because the rain washes everything away_

**A/N: Sorry, very short chapter. I've**** had this sitting here for a while waiting to be finished but I don't have the time to do it now, so I'll just put what I was going to put at the end of this in the next chapter. Hope you like it!**

**As always, review!**

**xox Exploding BonBon**


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